It can be difficult knowing where to begin with personal finances. What are the most important concepts that can help you be better with money? How does an understanding of diversification help you grow wealth? What’s the relevance of your FICO score? Does inflation have a big impact on your day-to-day activities? All of these questions and more are answered in Maureen’s latest course Personal Finance Concepts on Highbrow, an email-based educatio [...]

What would you do if you needed to pay $500 upfront for an emergency today? Could you do it? How would you pay for it? According to a survey by Bankrate, 63% of Americans do not have enough in savings to cover a $500 emergency. To pay for it, they said they would cut back spending in other areas, charge the expense to a credit card or borrow funds from friends and family. When I look around me in London, I wonder whether the same could be said of [...]

As a child, I noticed that my parents dreaded bills. As a student, I noticed that my flatmates dreaded bills. As an adult, I still notice that people, whether rich or poor, dread bills. Like many of us, when we’re surrounded with a certain mindset, it becomes automatic to adopt it. It’s part of our natural desire to fit in. When I left home, I knew exactly how to respond to bills: I dreaded them. Why do we hate bills? Bills hurt for a number of r [...]

In 2015, I ran my first personal finance workshop, “Let’s Talk About Money” to a group of individuals who were looking to get out of debt, start building their savings and learn more about pensions. The workshop was an informal session held in a function room of a cafe in East London. The idea was to get people together to help them talk about money in a non-judgemental environment, but also to provide them with valuable insights from mine and my [...]

Banking online or by app has become the leading way to manage finances. New research from CACI for the BBA shows that customers moved £2.9 billion a week using banking apps in 2015 - up from £2 billion in 2014. It’s no surprise then that many of us have turned to apps to helps us manage and grow our savings. In the last decade, we’ve seen the rise of peer-to-peer lending involving 100% management of your investment online with platforms like Zopa [...]

Tracking your spending is often the starting point for managing your personal finances. You might start tracking for a number of reasons…you want to start saving for a house, you’re broke before the next payday, you’re about to change careers, you are generally curious about where your money goes or maybe you want to tackle your debt. RELATED: Three Quotes on Money Management How do you track? You can track your spending in a number of ways. For [...]

Life-Life Balance is pleased to announce the launch of its first product which you can get today for free. We’ve talked about the importance of tracking what you spend in order to take control of your personal finances and reach your goals. What does this tool do and what does it look like? View the five-minute Youtube tutorial below to find out: Highlights of the product include: Know how much you’re spending each month Tailor your spending ca [...]

If you’re new to personal finance management, you’ll soon discover that there is a wealth of knowledge on the internet. As a keen follower of many blogs over the years, I’d like to share a few posts that have caught my attention (both old and new) and which will provide useful information for both beginners and those who are more advanced in personal finance management. These were picked based on their ability to inspire action and their tangible [...]

It’s a problem many of us face: running out of money before payday. Especially for those of us who are paid monthly, may day can sometimes come well before pay day. Do you find yourself grappling a manic-depressive spending regime, from splashing out to skint? I used to – but have had some reasonable success in reducing this problem. Let me share three suggestions with you. Know where your money goes Keep track of your actual expenses as they [...]

Onto part 2 for this post. Onceyou’vegot the transaction recording and totalling part of your spreadsheet up and running, you can start to think about budgeting. This section will require a lot of customisation to your situation, and is likely to change as your situation changes. A new job, or an extended period travelling, or a new housing situation, are all reasons to review how you budget. As I mentioned last week, this part of the spreadshe [...]